The purpose of this proposed study is twofold. First, this study will provide population based estimates of the incidence of fractures of the hip among the elderly population of the United States, aged 65 years and older. Second, this study will estimate case-fatality rates for those persons having suffered a fracture of the hip. To this end, discharge data from all short stay hospitals from 1984 to 1987, obtained from the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) and the Veterans Administration, will be used to provide estimates of the frequency of fracture of the hip and all-cause mortality subsequent to the injury in this population. Combining these data with the county-, age-, race-, and sex-specific estimates of the United States population for 1985 from the Bureau of the Census, this study will provide very precise estimates of the incidence of, and subsequent mortality association with fracture of the hip. These estimates will be unique; for the first time in this country they will be based on an enumeration of all hip fractures occurring among the elderly in All regions of the country. Further, estimates will include age-specific rates of the old, above 85 years of age. With these, detailed maps of the incidence of hip fracture will be developed and combined into an atlas depicting the geographic variation in incidence across the country. Further, seasonal variation will be assessed through the detailed examination of dates of admission for 1984 to 1987. Thus, the estimates of incidence and survival will provide: 1) an extremely detailed picture of the epidemiology of the incidence of fracture of the hip, and 2) a detailed description of the all-cause mortality experience of elderly persons suffering a fracture of the hip. Such estimates will enable health care planners to accurately and precisely assess the burden that this common injury places on our society. In addition, the description of the variation in person, place, and time may aid researchers in developing new hypotheses for the etiology of hip fractures.